A medical examiner reveals what killed promising Young Los Angeles angels pitcher tyler skaggs. The husband and father just the latest victim of the nations Opioid Epidemic. We miss tyler every day. Nothing we learned today changes those feelings. All that plus sweet freedom. An alabama man sentenced to life in prison for stealing 50 is finally released after 36 years behind bars. Back in the drivers seat. Dale earnhardt jr. Coming out of retirement to race today just weeks after a plane crash nearly killed him and his family. Valerie harper. Im engaged. No. Youre right. The most beloved Television Side kicks passing away after a brave battle with cancer. Well look back at her remarkable life and career saturday august 31st, 2019. From nbc news, this is today with sheinelle jones, peter alexander, and dylan dreyer. Live from studio 1a in rockefeller plaza. Good morning and welcome to today. Thank you for joining us on this saturday morning. A busy one with Hurricane Dorian churning in the atlantic. This storm is the real deal. Something that folks in florida have been watching anxiously for days. Lets get right to it. Heres the latest. Its a category 4 hurricane packing top sustained winds of 140 miles an hour. So the bahamas, of course, they are next in dorians path. The island chain could get up to 20 inches of rain. The path of dorian is starting to come into clearer focus. It looks like it could slide up floridas east coast friday night into saturday. Dave price is in for dylan. Whats the latest . We have a lot to cover and a lot of changes in the wee hours of this morning with the last model run. Lets get right to t. Here are the stats. Dorian a very dangerous category 4 storm located 470 miles east of West Palm Beach florida with maximum winds up to 140 Miles Per Hour moving to the west northwest at 12 Miles Per Hour. So a slight pickup in speed. It is going to wobble in speed. The next sights are on the bahamas where hurricane warnings are in effect for the northern islands. The bahamas under a hurricane watch. This will continue to advance towards the coast line of the southeast. Lets track it together. Where is it headed . With the latest modeling, it begins a turn to the north and the east as it heads towards the south florida shoreline. Perhaps the storm will parallel the coast never making landfall. As this modeling works, it winds up with its eye passing somewhere between savannah and charleston as late as thursday morning with maximum winds of 110 Miles Per Hour. Now this does not mean florida is out of the danger zone by any stretch of the imagination. So for residents watching throughout the peninsula, you must be careful, you must stay aware and listen to your municipal authorities. What kind of effects are we looking at as this storm continues to move on through . Catastrophic winds potentially over the bahamas as we roll into sunday and as they get the worst, the effects will begin to be felt through florida from miami all the way up to jacksonville as we roll through and keep in mind we could see Tropical Storm force gusts through sunday and as we roll into the beginning of the week and the storm passes through, the northwest bahamas could see as much as 25 inches of rain in isolated areas and significant rainfall up and down the eastern seaboard. Up to and including the carolinas. Theres a lot going on and still so many questions. Back to you. Dave, thanks. Well check back with you in a few minutes. Millions of americans are in the cross hairs of dorian. Residents are bracing for the arrival of dorian. Some places are announcing new mandatory evacuations set to take place as early as tomorrow. Its creating a potential travel nightmare. Nbcs kathy park is in Indian Harbor beach in florida for us. Good morning. Reporter peter, good morning to you. With warnings that this could be a multiday storm, residents have been rushing to secure their homes as well as stock up. Here mandatory Evacuation Orders begin at 8 00 tomorrow morning in some areas, but already some businesses plan on shutting down today. This morning Hurricane Dorian churning and intensifying in the open waters of the southern atlantic. The slowmoving storm nearly the size of ohio and expected to get bigger. But preparation is only picking up in florida with the entire state in the danger zone. Bavara county announcing friday it will initiate mandatory evacuations. While no one likes to leave home, this is the best course of action to take to keep everyone safe. The one thing thats certain is this has been getting stronger very consistently. Reporter the last category 4 to hit floridas east coast was andrew in 92 which was blamed for 44 deaths. Officials in georgia declaring emergencies in at least 12 counties. The bahamas bracing, too. Boats secure, homes boarded up, stores jammed with residents rushing to get ready. We have fans, lots of food, we have the generator, 15 gallons of gas. In melbourne, people waited at least four hours for ten sand bags per car. Id rather be safe than sorry. My life is more important. Reporter as a hurricane headquarters of Florida Power and light, teams are planning for post storm damage. Teams coming from 34 states and canada. Reporter big Holiday Weekend, travelers are scrambling to make alternate plans. Were going before it thinks about hitting. Airports closing sunday or monday but a bright spot ahead of the potential doom of dorian. We now pronounce you man and wife. Now you may kiss your bride. A new bride and groom weathering the storm together. Reporter and resources and supplies all over the country are headed this way. Emergency shelters will also be opening this weekend. Meantime, 2,000 Florida National guard members have been activated to help. Back to you. Stay safe down there. Thanks very much. This storm is a huge test for the federal government which faced tough scrutiny after maria hit puerto rico. Jeffrey buyers is a top fema official. Good morning to you. Good morning. Weve been talking about these maps and looking at them all morning. We have them moving slowly towards east florida and potentially up into georgia and the carolinas. How do you prepare for such a vast area here . Thats a great question, and i would start by saying its doing things like were doing now. You know, the media is a great part of our team. Emergency management, Emergency Response is definitely a team effort and the media plays a very, very vital role. So, you know, from first and foremost, we want the citizens obviously in florida, not to get fixated on the skinny black line, the cone of uncertainty has florida and a large part of florida potentially to still get impacts. As just laid out, theres going to be impacts to florida in the form of rain even if theres not an impact. Citizens of georgia, South Carolina, north carolina, now is the time to start making preparatory actions. We want our citizens whos our most vital teammate to do what they need to do to prepare for the pop impacts of dorian. We obviously have teams in florida and commodities ready to push in. We currently have teams in georgia. We will make plaps for South Carolina, north carolina. There will be no limited factors on our end to have what we need in those states should dorian turn that way. You talk about how citizens need to do what they need to do at a time like this. What does that look like . Run us down that checklist, that rosters of what you want citizens along the coast in particular in florida to be doing in the 24 to 48 hours that they have before in some places they have to evacuate. Yes, sir. First and foremost, make sure that you have the ability to get local warnings from local officials. Make sure in your emergency kit you have medicines, extra medicines if thats part of it, prescription and nonprescription. Make sure you have a rainy day fund, cash set aside. Make sure youve taken care of whatever your pet needs are. Make sure you have batteries in flashlights, food and water. I would recommend you go to ready. Gov and download the fema app. There are some basic things that should be in a kit. Put some games in there. Put things that if you have children you can keep their minds off of sitting here and looking at a hurricane. Thank you for your time today. Wish you guys good luck. Thank you very much. President trump is monitoring the hurricane from camp david this morning. Nbcs hobbs nichols is at the white house. Good morning. Reporter good morning. The president is at camp david monitoring the hurricane and preparation efforts. He was supposed to be in poland but he canceled that trip once projections showed this storm would potentially make landfall as a category 4. Before leaving he spoke to reporters and he said his administration is hoping for the best but preparing for the worst. This morning President Donald Trump is hunkered down at camp david monitoring Hurricane Dorian from a distance. We have a lot of experts coming up. Well be running things as sort of a control center. Reporter lying in dorians projected path is the prize resort. Maralago can handle itself. Thats a powerful place. The thing im worried about is the state of florida. Reporter the president not changing his decision to impose new tariffs on 100 billion of products. They cant compete. Theyre pumping money in. Were not paying much more it. Reporter the proposed 50 tariff hike targets tariff goods for things such as plastic plates and ketchup but its chinas companies that are suffering. 13 of companies will be leaving china in the fairly near future. Im not surprised to hear that. The president addressing the abrupt resignation of his personal assistant. She made unpleasant comments. She said she was drinking a little bit and she was with reporters and everything she said was off the record and that still doesnt really cover for it. Mentioned a couple of things about my children. Reporter trump wishing her well while proclaiming his love for all his children. Tiffany is great. I love tiffany. Peter, the president s scheduled to return to washington tomorrow around noontime and go straight to fema headquarters for briefing. After that they will make a decision on what if any evacuations they may want to order or recommend. Peter, sheinelle. Hans nichols at the white house. Thank you. Moving on to other news this morning, a stunning turn in the case of baseballs tyler skaggs who was found dead in his Hotel Room Two months ago. An autopsy revealed he choked to death with a deadly mix of opioids in his body. Nbcs ron allen is here with more. Good morning to you. Reporter drugs and alcohol. Tyler skaggs death was a huge mystery. 27 years old in the prime of his career suddenly found unresponsive in a hotel room when he didnt show up for a game one afternoon. His family is determined to find out who else might be to blame. Youve still got to reporter Los Angeles Angels took to the field friday night with heavy hearts after learning the cause of death of their beloved pitcher, tyler skaggs. Frankly for me and the guys in the clubhouse doesnt change anything. Still lost a teammate, lost a friend and we miss him. Reporter the angels were in dallas at the start of a series when skaggs didnt show up for practice. He was fully clothed lying on a hotel bed unresponsive, no signs of trauma. His death ruled an accident the medical examiner saying he choked on his own vomit. In a statement the skaggs family heart broken and saying about drug use, that is completely out of characteror someone who worked so hard to become a Major League Baseball player adding we were shocked to learn that it may involve an employee of a Los Angeles Angels. A spokesman for Major League Baseball saying the league will assign the Investigative Unit for the case. Skaggs mysterious death stunned the sports world playing for his hometown team. Lefthander having a relatively strong year free of significant injury. The baseball world responded with an outmourg of tributes. The angels all wearing his number 45 for the first game after his death. His mother threw out the first pitch, a strike. A combined no hitter. We miss tyler every day. Nothing that we learned today changes those feelings. Its like a shot to our core and it brings back a lot of pain from that tragic day. Now its been revealed that a death that seems so unbelievable was caused by something tragically mon, the nations Opioid Epidemic still claiming thousands of lives. Skaggs family has hired a high powered attorney. They want to know where skaggs got the drugs found in his system. Theyre all banned by Major League Baseball of course. The family didnt say why but clearly they have reason to think the team bears some responsibility in all of this. More ahead on all of this. Ron allen, thank you. Fans are mourning the death of beloved actress valerie harper. She passed away on friday after the battle with cancer. She made us all laugh in a career that spanned six decades. Miguel almaguer looks back on her life and career. Get out of my apartment. Reporter through much of the 70s she was one of the most beloved side kicks. Marys best friend. I have to lose 10 pounds by 8 30. Reporter she earned four emmy awards. Thank you. Reporter the big break came in 1970. Harper auditioned for a character named rhoda. Im engaged. Youre right, im not engaged but hes closing in. Reporter harper soon got her own show. My name is rhoda. And she got her man in a groundbreaking move. Rhoda and joe lived together unmarried. Unheard of on fell vision in the 70s. America watched as rhoda and joe tied the knot. If youre always connected with rhoda, will you be okay with that . Oh, yeah. Reporter harper beat lung cancer in 2009 was diagnosed with brain cancer. With her husband always by her side, harper faced the prognosis with clarity and grace. Given only three months to live, she defied the odds. Id say that were getting pretty close to remission. Thats great to hear. Reporter six months after the diagnosis harper returned to television. And earned a standing ovation. Were all going to die. I just want to live every moment to the fullest. Reporter and she did. Valerie harper, an actress, activist and humanitarian who spent a lifetime making us laugh. For today, miguel almaguer, nbc news, los angeles. She famously said we all looked up to mary but we all identified with rhoda. Thats true. Talk about a life well lived. Yeah. Wnbcs dave price is here with another check of the weather. Good morning again. Good morning. Well talk about dorian for a while. Frontal showers in the mid section of the country. High heat were talking about in california, arizona and nevada. The northeast and northwest looking beautiful and we continue to watch and track dorian as she charts a path towards the southeastern were continuing to track a warming trend through labor day. 60 right now, well continue to see our temperatures climb into the 70s by about 11 00 a. M. Daytime highs will definitely warm up in San Francisco, 74 degrees. South bay, 88 for san jose. Concord, 95, santa rose, 90. And expect mostly clear conditions, a couple clouds rolling through. New sichuan hot chicken. For a heart breaking limited time only at panda express. A weekly download. A look back at the week that was. We begin with a multiMillion Dollar ruling with a drug maker in oklahoma lawsuit. That could set the stage for claims in other states. Reporter pharmaceutical giant Johnson Johnson ordered to pay the state of oklahoma 572 million. Defendants caused an Opioid Crisis that is evidenced by increased rates of addiction, Overdose Deaths and neonatal syndrome. Reporter the state sued the company saying it should be partly responsible for the Opioid Crisis. Johnson johnson denied any wrongdoing and plans to appeal. Fires burning at a record rate in the amazon with brazils space agency reporting a Staggering Number of events. More than 74,000 since january. Climate Scientists Say one of the most immediate impacts from all of this is how much carbon is being released into the atmosphe atmosphe atmosphere. Reporter many of the fires have been set intentionally to clear land for farming sparking condemnation from around the world. Actress lori lauock lynn an her husband faced a judge. They rejected a plea deal and plan to go to trial. The celebrity couple is accused of paying half a million to get their two daughters into college through a side door. In court their attorney saying they did not know the money was being used to bribe college officials. Reporte a crash claims the life of racer jessi combs. On tuesday the daredevil tried to beat her own record but a mechanical failure caused a fatal crash. Climate activist gretta thumbberg is back on land. The 16yearold setting sale from england to new york to protest Climate Change arriving in time for the United Nations climate conference. Caught on camera. One of the worlds most active volcanos located in italy erupting in a cloud of smoke and ash. The violent eruption, the second in as many months. In louisiana patients bearing fruit. Weighing 8 pounds and measuring more than 28 inches. Thats a lot of juice. And this elephant deciding the road seemed as good as anyplace to stop for a quick nap dozing for 20 minutes before waking up and walking off. And a pair of louisiana brothers went viral this week with big brother noah tingle greeting his little brother home from School Every Day in a costume. A gorilla, farmer, firefighter, ninja, santa claus and a minion. This is how we are. Theres nothing special about this than the other stuff me and him do together. It shows how good of a brother he is. Noahs a senior heading to college and wanted